County secretary Abdi Muhumed speaking to the press.with him is Aga Khan Foundation manager for Coast and North Eastern Atrash Ali.

The large number of young people in the Northeast need opportunities to be self-reliant instead of looking for scarce white collar jobs, the Aga Khan Foundation has said.

To achieve this, the government should work together with the private sector and the civil society, the foundation’s manager for Coast and North Eastern Atrash Ali said.

The organisation intends to train 13,000 youths in Garissa, Mandera and Lamu.

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Ali distributed training and business equipment to 13 youth groups on Saturday. He said up to 75 per cent of the population in the region are below 35 years.

“It is important that we give the youth hands-on training, so that they can start their own enterprises instead of looking for white collar jobs that are hard to come by,” he said

“We want to offer them an opportunity to be self-reliant. This will in turn reduce issues of desperate youth lured into joining militia groups,” Ali said.

The foundation has spent Sh8 million on 13 technical training centres in the three counties of Garissa, Wajir and Mandera. Ali said they will spend Sh4 million to buy training equipment for Lamu and Garissa.